Act One, Scene 8

Image: A depiction of Andrew Jackson as a boy in 1780
defying a British officer.

This is the eighth scene of my play, A Sword Unsheathed, originally written in French and translated into English for publication on the blog. If you haven’t yet read the first scene, you can find it here. You can find all the scenes published so far on this page. The original French version of this scene is found at the end of the post. (Read in French.) Please read the historical note here.

BENJAMIN HUGER, plantation owner, about 35 years old
FRANCIS HUGER, his son, about 7 years old
ALICE, Francis’s cousin, about 16 years old
FERGUSON, a captain in the British Army
Several British soldiers

The same set as the previous scene, immediately afterwards.

BENJAMIN (speaking to the shadows backstage): Good evening, gentlemen. Welcome.

(A British officer accompanied by three soldiers, all dressed in white knickers and red coats, enter through the doors. The soldiers carry muskets armed with bayonets. The officer carries a saber.)

The officer, FERGUSON (speaking to Benjamin while surveilling the room): Mr. Huger, good evening. How are you, sir? And your family?

BENJAMIN: We’re very well, Captain … ?

FERGUSON (stops surveilling and looks at Benjamin): I apologize, Mister Huger. My name is Ferguson. I’m captain of the Scots regiment at Georgetown. We’re here this evening to search your plantation. I suppose you know very well why. (He looks at Benjamin haughtily.)

BENJAMIN: Captain Ferguson, I’m sorry, but I have no idea of what you speak.

FERGUSON: Come now, Mister Huger. You know very well. You have a guest here, do you not?

BENJAMIN: I’m quite sorry to disappoint you, Captain, but there’s only me, my son Francis, my niece Alice, and our servants. We haven’t have company for several months.

FERGUSON (apparently content to continue playing the game): Sir, you do have company. We know it very well. He’s a French marquis … a young Gilbert du Motier … who arrived at Georgetown two weeks ago? He is here, is he not?.

(Francis starts to descend the staircase gingerly. He stops on a step and watches attentively the scene that unfolds below.)

BENJAMIN (chuckles and shakes his head): Captain Ferguson, I’m afraid I don’t know how to help you. I assure you that we aren’t hosting any “French noblemen” on this plantation. I’d be quite astonished if a marquis would deign to spend his nights among these swamps and pine groves! (He chuckles again.) He’s surely in Charleston, don’t you think?

FERGUSON (beginning to show his impatience): We know very well, Mister Huger, that your friends in Georgetown led him here. Fortunately for us, he left more than cargo in his ship.

BENJAMIN: Captain, I’ll repeat myself so that you make no further mistakes here. I will be as clear as possible: there is no marquis on my plantation.

FERGUSON (approaches Benjamin): Mister Huger, I’m close to losing my patience. Don’t mock me, sir. I speak with the authority of your sovereign. (Francis descends a few more steps, remains on the stairs.) You surely noticed that I arrived at the head of a squad of a good twenty men. At this very moment, your barns … your slave quarters … your stable … are all being searched. And now, we are going to search this house. If the Marquis isn’t here, so much the better for you and your family … but I will not take your word for it.

BENJAMIN: I remind you, Captain Ferguson, that I was an officer in the King’s army. We are are loyal subjects of His Majesty here. My word …

FERGUSON (cuts him off): You were, good sir. You were an officer in His Majesty’s army. You are no longer. And furthermore, Mister Huger, we are ignorant neither of your political sentiments … (a short pause) … nor of the treason in the bosom of this family!

BENJAMIN (clenches his jaw, looks at Ferguson with an icy stare): Sir, if you want to search my house, I invite you to do so. You will find no treason here.

(Francis descends the stairs and crosses the stage.
Alice appears on the stairs.)

FRANCIS: Papa, Nathaniel wasn’t a traitor!

FERGUSON (speaking directly to Francis): Your brother was no hero. Don’t deceive yourself. As soon as you raise a sword against His Majesty’s army, you become a traitor, little man … a filthy traitor who deserves what follows: either the noose … or a ball in the head!

BENJAMIN (very agitated, holding Francis by the shoulders): Captain, I ask you please to do what you have to do here, but let my son rest in peace.

(Ferguson nods his head towards the soldiers who accompany him. One advances towards the staircase, two others exits stage right and stage left.)

Hey again … look above in the comment for the schedule. We’ll get there! And thanks for the kind compliment. I’m not convinced it’s that good, but it is my first real play. And it’s always nice to hear a compliment like that!